Moana

Familyfaire:  Moana (2026) PG  Moana is about the young, inquisitive daughter (Catherine Laga’aia) of a village chief. Moana has always felt that she was destined to do something great and is summoned by the ocean to undertake a voyage to save her community. She will need help and finds it in Maui (Dwayne Johnson), a legendary shapeshifting demigod who, along with Moana’s dimwitted rooster, Heihei, undertakes a journey that will test her will and belief in herself. I loved the 2016 animated film, saying, “The animation is crisp and gorgeous, taking advantage of the tropical look of the islands,” and loving the message to young girls that you can do anything you put your heart and soul into. So now Disney has decided to bring back the story as a live-action film. Why? I have no clue, other than making money (but with a reported budget of 200 million, that could be in serious doubt). Does this bring anything new to the storyline? No. Unlike the 2025 live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, which did a fantastic job of making changes from the animated film to make it work with live action, Moana is almost a shot-for-shot remake and not for the better. The film feels exactly as if it were shot on a soundstage in front of a green screen. The film fails to capture the beauty, brightness, and fun of the animated film. And it uses animation to bring to life Mona’s pet rooster and piglet, both of which don’t look real and feel like props for the film, rather than bringing fun and life to it as they did in the animated film. And then there’s Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui. I loved his character in the animated film, thinking that, while he can’t sing very well, he is perfect as an animated character, bringing fun and life to the storyline. The problem, like actors like Vin Diesel, Arnold, and Johnson, is that they are larger than life, and you sometimes see them not as their characters but as the actors themselves. The animated film let Maui dance and be a virtual ball of energy, bouncing around as Johnson sang songs like "Your Welcome" to our delight. The problem is that the live-action Johnson can’t match the action of animated Maui, and so the songs become more about Johnson posing than dancing around. Your Welcome song still works, but it’s not as much fun as the animated film song; it just can’t recreate it, no matter how much his animated tattoos move around in this version. The bright light in all this is Catherine Laga’aia’s performance, who shines on screen and has a wonderful, powerful voice that makes her solos worth watching the film for. Kids are still going to like this film, especially watching the rooster do his stupid stuff, but I don’t see them falling in love with it as they did with the animated one. The magic just isn’t there, and that’s a sad thing to say about a Disney film.  My Rating: Cable  Moana Website  Now playing in theaters

My View:  Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass  (2026)  R   Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass follows Gail (Zoey Deutch), who is devastated that her fiancé has slept with his “celebrity pass” Jennifer Aniston. She goes to a fortune teller, who tells her that to make things right and go on with the marriage, she must sleep with her own celebrity pass. Gail, along with her best friend, Otto (Mile Gutierrez-Riley), travels to Hollywood to find her own ‘free pass’: Jon Hamm. This is a wild and crazy film that reminded me of those wonderful Zucker and Abrahams films like Airplane! and Top Secret!, where jokes and ridiculous scenes came at you at an incredibly fast pace. This is a film where lines like “We have three years’ experience between us” and “I can make you sick” are just thrown out at you at a rapid pace. Zoey Deutch, who is on a roll this summer, is amazing as the incredibly naïve and earnest Gail, who is determined to sleep with Jon Hamm to save her wedding plans. Zoey plays her perfectly as she greets everyone she meets with a “Hi, I’m Gail” and is amazed by the big city of L.A., where everything seems wonderful to her, even when it’s not. The film is full of incredibly stupid and funny scenes, like an overzealous concierge who gets out a map and shows Gail and Otto all the sights they need to see, which include 7-Eleven, Starbucks, McDonald's, and a back alley where you can meet a guy for a good time. Then we see the two going to all these places and acting as if they have just discovered the most amazing city in the world. You have to see the film to understand the plot, but just say there is the old luggage switcheroo, a gang of bad guys after Gail and Otto, and the quest to find Jon Hamm. The film is if the Zucker brothers and Jim Abrams took the Wizard of Oz and turned it into a sex quest with martial arts and bloody deaths. There are so many cameos in this film, you could get drunk taking shots of when someone shows up that doesn’t even say a line. And wait till you see what Jennifer Aniston does in the film! Can Dorothy, I mean Gail, find her celebrity pass and get her long-awaited marriage ceremony back on track? Not without a lot of help and a few dead bodies.   My Rating:  Full Price  Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass Website   Now playing in theaters

My View:  Evil Dead Burn  (2026)  R   In Evil Dead Burn, Alice (Souheila Yacoub) has just lost her husband. Seeking comfort, she visits his family at their secluded home. But grief turns to terror as her in-laws morph into Deadites, monstrous creatures bent on her destruction. Trapped and hunted, Alice’s only hope is a makeshift scrapbook containing the forbidden Book of the Dead. I am a big fan of the original trilogy starring the man, the myth, the legend, Bruce Campbell. The series is now going on without Mr. Campbell, and it loses some of its mojo because of it. This film appears to be using the Evil Dead moniker and the ‘Book of the Dead’ as an excuse for making a film that is incredibly violent (mostly towards women) and almost pointless, other than a knife that the Deadites want to destroy or have (I never quite figured that part out). Not only do the Deadites take a lot of hits (or gunshots), so do the humans they are trying to kill, with an incredible amount of damage that professional wrestlers take fewer hits. The film is worth seeing for one scene in the final ten minutes (kind of right out of the Terminator films) that makes up for most of the mess it is. And yes, by the way, there is a mid-credits scene that is kind of fun. Just wish the rest of the movie was as much fun as its predecessors.  My Rating: Cable    Evil Dead Burn Website Now playing in theaters 

Indiefest:  The Isolate Thief  (2026)  R   The Isolate Thief is set in a snowbound Civil War-era outpost, where a young caretaker, Ada (Mackenzie Foy), isolated from the nearest town,  finds a hidden stash of stolen gold. She must use her wits and perseverance to survive both a deadly winter and a gang of ruthless outlaws who want their gold back. I am a big fan of westerns, a genre that dominated the early days of film but is rarely seen in today’s marketplace. Ada is barely coping with running the outpost because her father, a military man who was in charge of the outpost, has died. This is a film about survival, and Ada uses both her skills and her wits to survive a gang that has come to find a stash of gold. Sean Bean plays the leader of the gang, who at first pose as soldiers, but Ada soon figures out that they aren’t who they say they are. This is a film about surviving in a brutal world where danger is just around the corner, and it takes guts to do so. The story goes on a little too long, but it’s worth seeing for Mackenzie Foy’s performance as a woman who defies the odds to stay alive and Sean Bean as a crafty gang leader who is willing to play the long game to get what he wants.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Isolate Thief Info Now playing in theaters

My View: The Invite  (2026) R   The Invite starts at a point where Joe (Seth Rogen) and Angela’s (Olivia Wilde) marriage is going quickly down the drain. When they invite their mysterious neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Pina (Penélope Cruz), over for a dinner party, the night quickly spirals into chaos in very unexpected places. I am not a big fan of films where I don’t like the main characters, and when this film starts, I hated Joe and Angela. They don’t like each other and aren’t interested in each other at all. They are just one big fight that starts the moment they see each other. Into this mess of a marriage come Hawk and Pina, a beautiful and cool couple that Joe and Angela have been hearing having deafening sex almost on a nightly basis. At first, only Angela seems to want the other couple in their lives, but as the night goes on, Joe becomes intoxicated by this dynamic couple. This is a hilarious film that continues to push boundaries, making Joe, Angela, and us very uncomfortable as the evening progresses. I loved the performances in this film, with Rogan as the combative Joe, who at first just wants them to leave but slowly comes around to enjoying their company while still trying to push his wife’s buttons. Wilde is hilarious as the overeager hostess who sees every slip-up (like serving ham to the vegan Pina) as a crashing ruin to her night. Edward Norton is so much fun as the overly attentive Hawk, the former “firefighter” who seems overly amused at how uncomfortable the other couple seems, especially Joe. And Penélope Cruz is amazing as the almost overly sexy Pina, who, it turns out, is a sex therapist and is willing to analyze everything at a moment’s notice. This is a sex farce as we find out more about both couples, and as the evening becomes more than just a dinner party. So get ready to laugh a lot and squirm a bit in your seat because it’s going to be a bumpy but highly enjoyable night.  My Rating: Full Price  The Invite Website Now playing in theaters

Sorry I Missed It (A film that I didn’t see when it first came out but have seen recently): Chris & Martina: The Final Set  (2026)  TV-MA  The story of two tennis legends, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who met in tournaments 80 times, with both winning 18 major titles in their careers. Chris was the All-American girl who broke on the scene at age 16 and started winning tourneys right away. Martina was the outsider, having defected in 1975, when she was just 18, from communist Czechoslovakia to the US. Chris was cool, determined, and loved by the media. The media saw Martina as reckless, combative on the court, and sometimes as the villain when they faced each other. What is fascinating about this documentary is that it is not just about their careers but also about their friendship. Chris took Martina under her wing early on, even teaming with her in doubles, and they were friends. Then Martina got serious about winning, and their friendship became combative. Both spent years as the world's number one women's tennis player, and often the other was number two. Then, later in their careers, they became friends again. And then both women had battles with cancer, and that made their bond even stronger. What I enjoyed about this film was watching the two of them together, their matches, and how they get carried away by the emotions of the time. This is a wonderful film about not only two great athletes who changed the face of women’s tennis, but also about friendship and overcoming the obstacles life throws our way.   My Rating: Full Price  Chris & Martina: The Final Set Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform 

Forgotten Film:  Sleepwalk with Me  (2012) (First reviewed on Sept. 21, 2012)  Matt (Mike Birbiglia) is a struggling stand-up comedian whose career has stalled. To make matters worse, his relationship with his girlfriend (Lauren Ambrose) is also failing, and Matt has a nasty case of sleepwalking. This is a funny, smart film based on writer/director/lead actor Mike Birbiglia’s own life. Birbiglia shows how hard it is to break into the stand-up comedy business, and once you get into the business, how hard life is. He does it with humor, and his dialogue is just so dead-on, capturing a sort of sad-sack humor. Ambrose is excellent as the girlfriend who supports Matt at first but soon learns that his profession will test their relationship, especially after he uses his real-life experiences for material.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  sleepwalk with me info  Available on Philo, AMC+ and Apple TV+ 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Moana:  Tattoo Artist Coordinator

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  The Odyssey  (2026)  R  The Odyssey follows Odysseus (Matt Damon), the Greek king of Ithaca, who goes on a long and perilous journey home after the Trojan War and his encounters with mythical beings as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), and his son, Telemachus (Tom Holland), before Penelope succumbs to a nefarious suitor, Antinous (Robert Pattinson). The film is written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who shot for the first time completely with IMAX 70mm cameras.  The Odyssey Website   In theaters and IMAX on Friday, July 17, 2026

Until Next Time!